The Second World War (WWII) was fought by America’s "Great Generation" (Brokaw 1998) when the war ended, all who had been involved, both in military and civilian capacities, celebrated. Then began the task of creating the postwar nation and society. Perhaps because of their wartime challenges, the predominant values of this Greatest Generation have been identified as “responsibility, duty, honor, and faith”(Brokaw, 1998).Because they had experienced the sacrifices and the atrocities of war, their maturation processes were accelerated. In record numbers, they married and gave birth to a phenomenal number of infants, 76million in the 18years between 1946 and 1964. This group of infants, now between 40 and 58 year old, became known as the baby boomer generation. Many researchers (Moen 1998; Morgan 1998; wong, 2002) have described this generation as unique beyond its number. The year 1946, with the return of the soldiers from WWII, unstandably seen as the beginning of the baby boomer generation, whereas 1964 is viewed as the end of the “boom”. In1965, the fertility rate in America returned to pre-WWII levels. Consider, for example that member of the baby boomer generation(76million) make up over 40% of the adult population in the United states. When compared with their parents (26 million) and those who followed members of Generation X(46million). The first of the baby boomers entered their 7th decade of life in 2006, and they constituted the largest number of persons ever born in a single generation(in case only 18years) from 1905 until the end of the 20th century in the United states. Baby boomers some of whom has attended the age of 55 to 60 in the year 2006, which make up the largest 5 year of age group born in the 20th century(Morgan 1998). The appearance of such a large population bubble containing a record number of aging individual led Wong(2002) to comment if aging was a disease in this country, public heath might declare it a national epidemic(p.3).
- Quote paper
- Osemeka Anthony (Author), 2010, Gerontological counseling, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/157572
